Company (2007)

view by: Ben Q

This book provides an insightful look into the inner workings of the corporation. Max Barry is a brilliant writer who has obviously spent a lot of time working at large companies, secretly plotting to bring them down with his wit. This book is full of that and has a good story too. Jones is the new hire at Zephyr Holdings, a company whose purpose is unknown, even to its employees. No one has ever seen its CEO, and a missing dounut is cause for a full-scale investigation. Jones is a curious guy, and decides to investigate despite the warnings of his co-workers. What he discovers will astound and amaze you. This book works on many levels: as satire, as a drama, and as a protest against the corporate workplace. Barry succeeds in all the areas a writer needs to by making you care about the characters while providing an interesting and fast-pace storyline. The book is an easy read and will entertain you for hours. ( )

A wonderfully over the top satire at the expense of any and all corporations. Set in the fictional corporate world of Zephyr Holdings; all of the small minded, seemingly petty politics in the office are pointed at, exposed and ridiculed. A must for any office worker who feels that their boss is not entirely sure of the real world around them!
Jones is starting his first new day at Zephyr a company where no-one knows exactly what they are doing, why they are doing it or indeed how it is going to get done. Desperate to know more Jones starts to dig around, ask questions he shouldn’t and talk to people (notably senior management) thought to be un-reachable. Without wishing to give too much more of the story away for fear of giving clues to the twist in the story suffice to say that nothing in this office is quite as it appears to be.
This book reminds me of Joseph Heller and I think the best description for it is Catch 22 in an office. Having said that it doesn’t quite match the continued satire and humour of Heller’s anti-war masterpiece, the twist to the novel occurs very early on and I think that it would have been better had Barry explored the office a little bit more before revealing what is really going on. The rumours that run around the Zephyr office started by the employees (typical, I think, of any business) could have had the readers’ imagination going off in several directions trying to work out the plot. Having said that it is the characters and the ridiculous and often surreal situations that the management put the staff in to that really drives the novel. Every aspect of the office from the mundane filing and photocopying to the rather less mundane fear of being downsized and fired is explored by Barry and no-one clocks out at 5pm to go home without having been made to feel a little bit foolish first. ( )

Fantastical, and highly cynical, view of company politics ( )

This book is absolutely hysterically funny - especially for anyone that has worked for a big corporation (still funny if you haven't). I didn't really guess the ending and even afterward- I still felt the idea was worth pondering over. ( )

While I feel that Company was funny and an interesting take on the lunacy of the corporate world, it got a bit much. ( )